PHILADELPHIA—Andy Reid is running short on answers as time is running out.

This should be Reid’s last season in Philadelphia, unless the Eagles make an unlikely late-season run and make the playoffs. The Eagles (3-4) no longer respond to Reid like they once did. For the first time in his 14-year tenure the Eagles lost after a bye week, embarrassed at home by the unbeaten Falcons, 30-17.

Riding a three-game losing streak, Reid’s next gamble may be to bench Michael Vick and replace him with rookie quarterback Nick Foles. Vick sensed as much after the game.

"Obviously he’s thinking about making a (quarterback) change," said Vick, who wasn't the main culprit against the Falcons (21-for-35, 191 yards, one touchdown, no turnovers). "I’m trying my hardest. If that’s the decision that coach wants to make, then I’ll support it."

Whether the Eagles change quarterbacks or not, owner Jeffrey Lurie has to be thinking harder about changing his head coach.

This loss was on Reid’s shoulders, not Vick’s. Reid made a drastic move last week when he fired Juan Castillo as defensive coordinator and replaced him with Todd Bowles.

How the Eagles reacted Sunday would tell plenty about Reid shaking up his staff. And they flopped, particularly on defense. Atlanta drove for touchdowns on its first three possessions. The Falcons didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (22-for-29, 262 yards, three touchdowns) is good, and so is Atlanta’s offense. But the Eagles were tentative and confused defensively. That can happen when you change defensive coordinators in midseason. A mix up in the Eagles' secondary led to the Falcons’ first touchdown. Defensive players were out of position throughout the game.

Reid should have never elevated Castillo to defensive coordinator in the first place. He had never been a defensive coach in the NFL. If Reid was going to fire Castillo, it should have happened after last season, not during this one.

Now the Eagles’ defense has even less of an identity than it did before, getting used to a new coordinator who is under fire, just like Reid.

"We got to keep swinging," Bowles said. "It’s an up-and-down business. You can go from the outhouse to the penthouse in one week. Right now we’re in the damn outhouse."

Several players insisted the team hasn't tuned out Reid.

"Yeah, I feel like coach still has the locker room," Brent Celek said.

"I love coach Reid to death," Jeremy Maclin added.

But loving a coach and playing effectively for him are two different things. The Eagles have scored seven points in the first quarter all season. That’s a pattern of slow starts that consistently forces the Eagles to play catch-up.

Offense is Reid’s strength as a coach. His offense is not getting it done. The Eagles have plenty of playmakers—Vick, Maclin, Celek, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson. But they aren't making enough big plays, averaging just 17.1 points per game.

Reid’s team has serious issues on both sides of the ball. A lot to fix with just nine games left, but Reid said he could still make it happen, despite calling Sunday’s performance embarrassing.

"Yeah this is fixable," Reid said. "This is fixable and we’re going to get it right. That’s hard for me to tell you after a performance like that."

If Reid decides to bench Vick, nobody knows how Foles will do. He has never started an NFL game. How Foles looked in preseason would give you no indication of how he'll fare his first NFL start on Monday Night Football in New Orleans.

Reid should stick with Vick. His mobility and experience gives him a better chance to succeed behind a shaky offensive line. The Eagles don’t throw deep as much as they used to because they can’t protect Vick long enough for patterns to develop. Foles could be the quarterback of the future, but until the Eagles are out of playoff contention, a healthy Vick still gives them their best chance to win.

As for Reid, his time is running out. Fourteen years is an eternity for an NFL coach. Few get to stay that long in one job.

The Eagles have playmakers who aren't making plays, pass rushers who aren't getting to the quarterback, and for the second straight season, they are underachieving and in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

Firing Reid now, during the season, would not be the right move. It would be another disruptive change, and in this crazy NFL, the Eagles aren't out of the playoff picture yet. However, the Eagles are 11-12 since the start of 2011. If the Eagles don’t get back in the playoffs, there’s no way Reid should come back either.